CHICAGO – What is one of the greatest survival instincts of the pandemic? Creativity. The Zoom web series “What Did Clyde Hide?” is the result of a creative effort from Executive Producer/Show Runner Ruth Kaufman, Producer Sandy Gulliver and Director Sean Patrick Leonard. Kaufman and Leonard talk about the series, naturally, via Zoom.!—break—>
Music Box Films
Podtalk: Writer/Producer Alice Austen on ‘Give Me Liberty,’ in Chicago through Sept. 26, 2019
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 19, 2019 - 5:22pmCHICAGO – Moving from writing plays for the stage to writing for film may seem like a natural transition. But at the roots in each of these separate storytelling forms there are different ways of formulating the connection between dialogue and visuals. Alice Austen made this transition when she wrote – with director Kirill Mikhanovsky – the story and screenplay for “Give Me Liberty.”
Appreciation: A Tribute to Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on its 90th Anniversary
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 29, 2019 - 12:33pmCHICAGO – There are movie exhibitors, screening rooms, multiplexes and grindhouses, but there is only one Music Box Theatre, and Chicago is privileged to have it. The movie theater of all movie theaters opened on August 22nd, 1929, and is celebrating its 90th Anniversary all week at the venue, in the Southport Corridor neighborhood.
Film Review: ‘Transit’ is an Absorbing Thriller with a Perplexing Conclusion
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 17, 2019 - 9:57amCHICAGO – What if a new fascism were to sweep the land, and affects Paris, as it did in World War 2? “Transit” postulates on that very theory and creates a paranoid atmosphere that is stunningly real, but brings that emotion to a conclusion that I believe is redundant, and pretends to be deeper than it is.
Podtalk: Director Robert Schwentke of German War Film ‘The Captain’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 27, 2018 - 9:57amCHICAGO – Films about the Nazis and the German military during World War II are numerous… except for the ones with a pure German perspective. “The Captain,” directed by Robert Schwentke (“R.I.P.D.”), is based on a true story about a German army deserter who finds a Captain’s uniform, and decides to ride out the waning days of the war with the power of an officer.
Interview: Director Daniela Thomas on ‘Vazante,’ Presented by Music Box Films of Chicago
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 5, 2018 - 2:48pmCHICAGO – A vital and obscure piece of Brazilian history is exposed in the new film “Vazante,’ directed by Daniela Thomas, and is the latest film to be distributed by Music Box Films of Chicago. “Vazante” is now playing at the Music Box Theatre through February 8th, 2018. For more information, click here.
Interview: Director Hannes Holm Meets ‘A Man Called Ove’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 28, 2016 - 9:23pmCHICAGO – In 2012, Fredrik Backman released his Swedish novel called “En man som heter Ove.” It was published in English in 2013, and became a best seller. The book that delved into the life of a cranky old man is now a major Swedish movie, distributed in the U.S. by Chicago’s Music Box Films, and directed by Hannes Holm.
Interview: Norman Lear of ‘Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 1, 2016 - 12:41pmCHICAGO – Norman Lear is one of the greatest TV creators of the 20th Century, and beyond. The producer was a titan of 1970s television, with shows like “All in the Family,” “Good Times,” “Maude” and “Sanford and Son.” He is the topic of a new film documentary, “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
Film Review: Ordinary Lives Are Interwoven in Intricate ‘Flowers’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 19, 2015 - 8:51amCHICAGO – The meaning of our lives is elusive, and the time we spend here too short. The Spanish foreign language film “Flowers” seeks to define the meaning, through three women trying to memorialize one man. “Flowers” opens at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on Dec. 18th, 2015.
Interview: Director Jimmy Chin on What is There in ‘Meru’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 5, 2015 - 9:54amCHICAGO – There is a fictional film about to be released called ‘Everest,’ but now there is the real deal, a documentary about climbing Mount Meru, one of the most difficult and spiritual peaks in the world. “Meru” is co-directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. On the expedition itself, Chin was also a climber and cameraman.
Film Review: Incredible Personal Tour in ‘Antarctica: A Year on Ice’
Submitted by NickHC on December 5, 2014 - 5:23pmCHICAGO – Along with your local library’s DVD section and equality, Antarctica remains one of the general world’s greatest oversights, even though it’s the size of a continent (because it is one). Around this time of year, the North Pole gets a huge shoutout for its mass production of brand items, but it’s the South Pole that forever remains in the shadow of everything else in the world, only mentioned in films like Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary “Encounters at the End of the World,” or that 2009 Kate Beckinsale snow thriller “Whiteout.”
